Digication Scholars Conversations

In this episode of the #DigicationScholars Conversations, host Kelly Driscoll interviews Matthew Street, Senior Lecturer in Spanish at the University of Virginia.

They discuss various topics, including ePortfolios, project-based learning, active learning in foreign language courses, and the importance of reflection in education.

Matthew shares his non-traditional journey to becoming an educator, his innovative approaches in the classroom, including the use of flipped classrooms, and his commitment to creating a collaborative and interactive learning environment.

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What is Digication Scholars Conversations?

Digication Scholars Conversations...

Welcome to Digication
Scholars Conversations.

I'm your host, Kelly Driscoll.

In this episode, you'll hear part
one of my conversation with Matthew

Street, Senior Lecturer in Spanish
at the University of Virginia.

More links and information about today's
conversation can be found on Digication's

Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Full episodes of Digication Scholars
Conversations can be found on

YouTube or your favorite podcast app.

Welcome to Digication
Scholars Conversations.

I'm your host, Kelly Driscoll.

And today I am so pleased to introduce
Matthew Street, a senior lecturer

at the University of Virginia.

Welcome Matthew.

Thanks Kelly.

Thanks for having me.

I'm really excited to be here and
talk about ePortfolios with you today.

Yeah, I'm excited to have you here too.

So I wanted to just kind of let you
know, I love it when there's these

kind of connections with things.

So I actually grew up in, uh,
Stanton, Virginia, just on the

other side of the mountain.

And, um, I have so many.

Teachers in my family.

And one of them was my dear
grandmother, who was actually

a Spanish teacher at Waynesboro
high school for many, many years.

And, um, yeah, and I've just
been so excited to speak to you.

Um, I did want to let you know that
as I was kind of preparing for a call

today, I saw a beautiful, um, quote
from a student that was talking about

what a wonderful teacher you are.

And that, um, you emphasize creating with
the language rather than memorization.

And I just love that at Digication we're
so much about project based learning

and, um, You know, students really
developing their identity alongside

their work and I just thought that
that was just a wonderful description

of you as a teacher and got me even
more excited to, to talk to you today.

Um, I know you've been very active with
ePortfolios and using Digication in

a number of different ways, both for
yourself personally and in the classroom

and As well as part of your research, um,
and your students are developing their

own kind of ePortfolios, documenting
what they're learning in your courses.

So we have lots to chat about today.

And, um, I thought I'd kick things
off just with you telling our

listeners a little bit about.

Your journey and how you became a
senior lecturer in Spanish at UVA.

Yeah.

Well, thanks.

And thanks for this opportunity.

Yeah.

My, my journey wasn't quite as
linear as other people's journey.

And when I was 18 years old, if you would
have told me I would be sitting here

now, I would have never believed you.

Um, I grew up in the South, deep South
of Louisiana, near Baton Rouge, and

College really wasn't something that
I was in going to do, you know, so

I started college right out of high
school, but it didn't really work out.

So I took some time off and started
doing some construction work.

There's a lot of construction
workers in my family.

And I quickly saw there's a
lot of Spanish being used on

these various carpentry crews.

And so I started just trying to
pick it up, just trying to speak,

just trying to speak and over the,
over the development of a couple

of years, I got pretty good with it
and I was very passionate about it.

And so I decided to re enroll in college.

And that was a, a.

An excellent idea to have that break.

So I was kind of a non traditional
student and I majored in Spanish at

the University of Louisiana, Monroe,
and did exceptionally well there.

And then applied for graduate school and
went to the University of South Carolina

where, um, I was just a wonderful program,
a very pedagogical and applied linguistic

sort of angle that, that they have
opportunities to, to learn about there.

So I, took those opportunities and then,
um, I didn't, I was applying for jobs,

but I was going to go back to work at
the University of Louisiana, Monroe.

And one of the conditions was to
be a, uh, an ESL teacher as well.

So to be certified.

So when I graduated college,
I went to Costa Rica.

To do a, an ESL training
class for six weeks.

And it was there that I interviewed
for the university of Virginia.

And I only had like one polo shirt
and no pants, you know, just shorts.

I'm on a Skype call with them.

And I didn't know anything about the
university of Virginia growing up in

the, in the South and SEC country.

Um, and so two days later they
get, they offered me a job.

And when I came back home.

My wife was reminding me that
it's only an hour, six hours away.

So we drove from South Carolina to
Virginia and, and then, and then, you

know, that's where, this is where I've
been ever since I'm on my 11th year here.

And so it's just kind of a great,
a great story of, you know,

figuring out what you want to do.

So it's okay if you don't know what
you're going to do, you don't have

to follow the path that everyone
else follows in order to end up doing

something at the end that you're really
passionate about and that you like.

Yeah.

Well, thank you so much
for, for sharing that story.

And, you know, I'm, I'm a big fan of
that kind of approach to, to life.

Also, if someone had told me
that I'd be sitting here doing

what I am today, when I was 18, I
wouldn't have believed them either.

Um, and it's something that I definitely
talk, I have five children and it's

something that we talk a lot about around
the table and driving around town, you

know, you just kind of follow your gut and
things will generally work out for you.

And, um, I appreciate hearing
your story and I'm sure it's

one that you share with your.

Students too, um, many of them that come
into your courses, uh, I'm imagining,

you know, just in what I've learned
about you so far, probably maybe

expecting something a little different
when they first come in the door.

Um, so tell me a little bit about the,
the courses that you currently teach and,

um, maybe some of the, the approaches
that you have to get students in, engaged

in, in learning a foreign language.

Yeah, sure.

So my, my main course in the academic
year is the Accelerated Beginning Spanish,

and I'm the course coordinator for that.

So it's kind of, it's kind of my baby,
you know, I work with, with our program

director to develop the, all of the
materials and, and those sorts of things.

But, but it's a flip classroom.

So this, so that, that automatically
hits the students with something new.

They're usually used to being taught at
in high school and not expected to do

much work other than just sit there and
listen and fill out some, some papers.

And so when they get to the class on
the first day and it's all Spanish and

I'm, you know, don't let them use cell
phones or any sort of technology in the

classroom, unless, you know, we're, we're
doing that sort of thing that day and

just encourage them to, to start creating
with the language, like you mentioned,

like you mentioned earlier, you know, I
want the students to, to be comfortable.

So I also work with Active Learning
spaces, Collaborative Learning spaces

where there's no front or back to the
classroom and it's all interactive stuff.

So I always have the students
sit across from each other.

And this last semester I prohibited
phones even before class.

And I, at first, um, the students were
kind of bummed out about it, but I put

kind of icebreaker questions up and wanted
them to get to know each other in English.

And I basically told them, if, if you
don't do this before class, then we're

going to spend class time doing it.

And so our class is an accelerated class.

so every minute counts.

So two of the three sections
really got it right away.

I didn't even need the, the, the, the
questions after a couple of weeks.

The 9am class, you know, it took a
little bit more prodding, but they

were, they were into it too, and that
was their comment at the end of the

semester, that that was one of the
things that helped them feel more

comfortable getting uncomfortable.

And, and working with the, working
in those confines of the class, I've

kind of shifted instead of teaching
specific individual rules that coincide

with whatever chapter, I'm encouraging
students to develop more of a conceptual

understanding of the concepts as we go
and have how they link to each other

and so they can chunk these elements in
their brain and in their file system,

retrieve them a little bit easier and and
then so some of the practice with that

is when we get to different topics have
the students explain what this topic is,

what do we need to look out for, what
are some of the exceptions, how does it

relate to English and we do all of this in
English so there's a So there's a lot of

Spanish spoken in the class, but I think
there's definitely a need, especially

for the beginning levels, to also
spend some time talking about English,

talking about language pragmatically in
English is the easiest way to do that.

So what are some of the kind
of, um, icebreakers that you use

to help them start to become,
you know, just comfortable.

So...

at first, it's just like, hey!

Want to find out information
about your partner.

And I'm going to ask you about it.

So, where are they?

If it's the beginning of the
semester, where are they from?

What are they, what are their hobbies?

What do they like to do?

But as we're getting deeper into
the semester, I sometimes put some

questions that may make students
get a little bit more vulnerable,

like Tell, tell us about a challenge
that you had to overcome, something

that was hard and how did you do it?

And what do you remember
about something that you look

forward to to get you through?

And so some of these questions
really help form the community in

the class where they're comfortable.

It's almost like a little
therapy session, I guess.

They get just comfortable
talking with each other and also

working with different people.

I move the students around
regularly in the class.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's great.

And so when you, um, joined the,
the faculty at UVA, were, was

Digication something that was already
being used in the foreign language

courses, or is that something that
you really helped to integrate?

Yeah, so there was not being used.

So this was 11 years ago, right?

So, um, I think it was, I think
we've been using Portfolio for

about eight, Eight or nine years.

And so it was after my first or second
year that we were tasked with creating

a portfolio for our individual classes.

And the coordinators were tasked
with this and we had pretty much

creative license to do this.

So I spent the summer thinking about what
I would want my students to do from a

project based standpoint, to be able to
use the language with minimal scaffolding

to create sort of things that, that would.

That would demonstrate their
learning, their speaking, listening,

and reading, um, learning.

And so, so I created, you
know, a portfolio that we

used WordPress at the time.

I didn't, we didn't even know, I
didn't even know about Digication then.

And, you know, we use WordPress for
a year or two, and then we switched

to Digication, which was much more,
um, intuitive and, And, and helpful.

And I'm even one of the ones that really
liked the backend assignment features

of, of Digication and all of that.

The problem with that
was kind of our faculty.

We have a big faculty, you know, and
so the buy in with the faculty and

the technology aspect was a bit of a,
a bit of a downer for some of them.

So.

So, you know, we ended up just kind of
sticking to using the Portfolio only,

but if it were up to me, I would be using
those assignments and all of that stuff.

Cause then you can see when people turned
in things and all of that, and there's

rubrics and those sorts of things.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I don't know if you've had a chance
to, um, See the new Kora features that

we've been rolling out for Kora courses,
but the, I know that integration with

the learning management system was
really key for some of the faculty.

And there's a lot more options now to
kind of ease into using some of those

course features that you enjoyed, even
for those that may not, um, be familiar as

much with that, that side of Digication.

So we'll have a chance to, yeah,
share, share more of that too.

Yeah, I'm supposed to be used.

I was supposed to be using that in
the summer with my summer class.

So hopefully I'll be
working with that soon.

And the summer class that
we created is a, is an.

As free Spanish refresher class to get
students to test into a higher Spanish.

So we created our own materials,
but we used Digication exclusively

on that program for writing,
revisions, speaking, and commenting.

And it's amazing because the
students can literally see their

progress over the six week period.

Period where they're primarily
working on their own.

Mm-Hmm.

and, you know, asynchronously
exchanging with their partners,

um, along the semester.

But the Portfolio in that realm,
I've shared some fantastic portfolios

with some of the team here about
how much progress students have made

over just studying on their own with
the content that we made for them.

Yes, and it's so clear for them when
they're able to see, you know, the kind

of progress that they have from the, those
early classes to where they are at the

end, you know, in terms of their writing
and their speaking abilities, right?

Um, so for some of our listeners
that may not be as familiar with, um.

You know, what an ePortfolio is or how
students in a foreign language class

may be using a platform like that.

Could you talk a little bit
about maybe what kind of prompts

or projects that they're doing?

What kind of tools that they're
using as part of, um, kind

of documenting that learning?

Right.

So yeah, so the ePortfolio, you know,
as you guys know, the Digication

is, is a High-Impact Practice that
was denoted by the AAC&U years ago.

And a High-Impact Practice is
a, is a very respected practice.

It shows that this is something
that actually really helps, right?

Like capstone classes aren't the
same level as ePortfolio use, right?

So it's very important to, to, to,
to kind of put it in context right

there because the Portfolio, it
makes the learning visible, right?

The students can see what they're
learning and they can engage in

a virtual community in real time.

They can see examples of work.

They can get resources
from other students.

To either guide the direction of their own
work or as study resources that I use in

various concept map sorts of activities.

So, and the metacognitive part that's
so easy on the Portfolio cannot be left

out either, because when students have
the ability and are coached on how to

reflect on their learning and identify
where they're actually learning, that's

when students really see the value of
devoting time and effort into the class.

In many of these activities that
we, that we do would be done

without any ePortfolio, but I think
the effect of the student, as the

student's perspective would be,
um, less evident of their progress.

the Portfolio shows them, you made
a video for me in week one where you

could barely speak for 20 seconds.

At week 16, you spoke for three
minutes with a very open ended prompt,

incorporating many structures, and
basically you went over the time.

So like, that's, that's, that is
What's possible on an ePortfolio.

So some of the projects that we do on
portfolios are beginning reflections,

end reflections, and we also do
individual assignment reflections.

We also do project based learning,
right, where at, you know, certain

points in the semester or aligning with
particular units from the curriculum

that we're using, we'll provide students
with an open-ended prompt where they

need to, you know, uh, interpret some
information, maybe from a calendar and

then compare it and answer some questions
and then create their own calendar and

explain what they do in a given week.

So you have some scaffolding
to get them identifying some

structures that they need to use.

And then they can create with it, right?

And we also use it for
revision revisions, right?

Where I love the inline
commenting feature.

So students, you know, right?

And you, you make some, you make
some suggestions and then, then they

can post the other one under that.

And you, you know, You can correct
that and they can add more and

it just kind of keeps going.

So the reflective things that we also
use it for big summative assessments,

like end of semester projects that are
like multi step, multi modal things

where unlike a PowerPoint or unlike a
Word document, you know, you can have.

You can get all of the samples that
you need for a language class or

writing samples, speaking samples.

And then we include multimedia use,
which is so important, not just, just

in everyday life, um, those sorts
of aspects and, uh, and the concept

map stuff, which is what I really
liked that the students, that the

students do, um, where they, they.

Since we teach an accelerated
class, it's two classes in one

semester, so many concepts.

After the second exam, which students
usually score way less than they

thought they were going to, we
give them an opportunity to take

the structures that will be on the
third test and formulate some sort

of a graphic, like an infographic.

And we give them creative..., we show them
some examples, but we give them creative

license to do it however they want.

And then those become study
resources for other people.

And this last semester, I
even saw students using them

in class without prompt.

Like they would pull up or print out
a concept map and bring it to class.

And so, so these sorts of things, I
think, make the ePortfolio invaluable.

And just an amazing tool that
I think any language program

is better off because of it.

Oh, well, thank you so
much for describing that.

And I was curious as you were talking,
you know, you were speaking a little

bit about how Within Digication, you're
able to get evidence, you know, all of

the different types of evidence that
you're looking for, um, for your course.

And is it, and something that's a bit
different than PowerPoint, um, where

maybe before a tool like Digication was
available, would have been a space for

the students to create kind of a Slide
presentation of, of what they had done.

Um, are they sometimes using
Digication now as more of that kind of.

creation space.

So are they recording directly into
their ePortfolio, whether it's video

or audio, or is it something where
they're kind of capturing it and

then, and then loading things in?

No, our students in the Spanish class
per the assignments are recording

right into Digication because
that's the easiest way, right?

Like just open up your phone or
your tablet or your computer,

hit record, record it.

If you don't like it, record
it again, and then upload.

Some students will create, if it's,
if it's, if it's some sort of a video

that requires editing, some students
will create that somewhere else

and then put it on the Portfolio.

But for most of the, like the, um,
The, the monologue videos that we do

at the, the presentational speaking
things at the beginning and the end

of the semester, they just record that
right on, on, on Digication with, and

we give them prompts like, you know,
don't read, we should see errors in this.

If it's too perfect, you know,
you're going to have to do it again.

You know, those sorts of, those sorts of
things, which, you know, if it's re if

it's cast in enough ways in the class,
students really get it, you know, and

they, They, if they trust that they can,
they can give you their true work without

any use of Chat GPT or translators,
and you're going to fairly assess them

and they trust you on this journey.

That's, that's been the most, um, you get
the best results from students that way.

Yeah,

Yeah, absolutely.

Um, so you mentioned one of the
other features that you like to use

is that kind of in line commenting.

Um, so it's known as the, the
conversations feature and the

platform for listeners that may be
interested in, in where that is found.

Could you talk a little bit about
Maybe what your process is as students

are developing these throughout
the course, you know, what kind of

frequency are you going in and looking
at their work and providing feedback

and are they responding to you there?

Are they going through and making edits?

Could you describe a little
bit about what that is?

Yeah, I'll talk about it in
two, two different ways because

we use it a bit differently.

So in the, in the summer class, right?

So again, it's a free non credit class.

So students, they, the only caret
that they have to finish is that

we give them guaranteed placement
in a Spanish class if they commit.

And so we give them prompt feedback
on their writings and we, we, we

do revisions on their writing.

So, so they do like three modules.

So they write something, we, we
give them suggestions and then they

edit it and add a new paragraph.

And then we, Edit the first paragraph
again, and the second paragraph the

first time, and then they add a third
paragraph, and we do that one more time.

So, but we do that very quickly because
our, the, the online learning specialist

we talked to said one thing that that
prevents attrition in these, these

free classes is a delayed feedback.

So we're real prompt with that.

However, during the semester, when
the, the projects are, are more spaced

out, then, then the students will do
the work and then the feedback will

come, you know, in, in a reasonable
time, like within a few days.

Within a few days or a week, but stuff
for things like the final project.

Yeah, I'm going in and really looking
at the, at the, the language and giving

them a ton of suggestions, and then
they just go in and most different

ones have different processes, but
they just address the issues and

delete the comment and just keep going,
going on about, about their work.

Nice.

And I even comment on their reflections
as well, you know, cause I think they,

they, you know, I'll, cause it's another
way to workshop how to write reflections,

which is good for students to learn how
to do, you know, and I'll maybe encourage

students to expand a little more or
highlight what this is a very insightful

point, you know, that sort of thing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And that was actually my next question.

Cause you mentioned when the students
were coming to your course, You know,

in order to really take advantage
of that High-Impact Practice around

developing a Portfolio is this
kind of coaching around reflection.

And I'm imagining many of the students
that are coming into your courses, that

this is something that they may not be
familiar with, you know, again, once

again, this kind of active learning
that you're not just standing in

front of the classroom, telling them,
What they should be doing, right.

They're kind of figuring
things out for themselves and

working with other students.

Um, so as part of this kind of coaching
or reflection, how do you embed that

into, um, teaching a new language?

You know, is it something that
you're kind of scaffolding directly?

Within the pages that they're forming,
are you using specific prompts

or templates with the students?

Is it something that you, you know, talk
about with them when they're in class?

You know, it sounds like you do give
them feedback on it as they're developing

it, but how do they even get to that?

First stage of starting to
reflect on what they're doing.

Yeah.

So we, we use the instruction feature
on Digication, you know, the instruction

slide to give them all of their prompts,
no matter what the content, what

the, what the, the project would be.

So for the reflection one, so we have
questions and we have tips of course,

but we also, in the Accelerated
Beginning Spanish class, we do, we

do these reflection workshops, right?

And so a workshop is like toward the.

Toward the end of the
semester, we only do it once.

Um, but so the students share, they do
these little mini presentations in English

about their learning for the semester.

And so students are writing, I have
students write things on the board,

and then I, if a student says something
that's particularly insightful or

profound, I'll I, I then re-...

Rephrase that in terms of like
reflective, reflective pedagogy or

second language acquisition theory
that they touch on in their own ways.

And then so at the end, I'm like, you
guys should take pictures of these

bullet points that your classmates wrote,
because these are the sorts of things

that you're going to want to, you're
going to want to, your teachers are going

to want to see in all your reflections.

And so I feel like, It would be
great to do that more frequently

in, in all classes, um, but again,
we have the accelerated class.

So, you know, that's how
we're doing it for right now.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But that's such a great idea just
to kind of have this workshop kind

of space where, you know, you're not
just giving them feedback on their own

reflections, but they're able to see some
of their, their classmates right there

and your immediate response to those.

And what a great idea just to kind of take
a picture so they can have it with them.

So if they're ever having,
you know, one of those.

Blank page.

What am I going to say moments that they
can refer back to that and kind of frame

their thinking based on those examples.

Yeah.

Cause they, they all have very
similar, similar experiences.

Right.

And so one of the features
is like a callback, right?

So the first person obviously
can't call back, but the,

after the first person speaks.

Then the other person can get up
like, just like Kelly said, I also

feel this, but you know, and then, so
it kind of prompts more discussion.

And then by the end it works the
same way when they start writing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Do you ever have, uh, just out of
curiosity, do you ever have students

go in and use the conversations
feature to give feedback on each

other's work within their portfolios?

Not without being prompted.

No.

Okay.

Yeah.

I mean, they do comment on each
other's work, you know, but

it's part of the assignment.

It's part of some of the assignments.

Yeah.

I haven't seen a student just go,
um, maybe they have, and I don't

monitor the comments that closely,
but yeah, I know we make them comment

on other students work, but yeah.

Yeah.

So how do you prompt them to do that?

Are there a certain number of other
students that they need to look at?

Are there projects that you feel like
lend themselves more to having that kind

of yeah, we just part of part of
the actual the assignment right?

It's the reflection and commenting
part before you reflect.

Go view 3 of your your partner's
projects and comment on some

aspect of their project.

And we do the first half of the
semester, we do this commenting in

English because it's going to generate
the more sincere and genuine answers.

And then toward the end, we switch
to Spanish when the students have a

little bit more ability to create with
the language and, you know, and say,

say some, some things that make sense
that don't need a lot of correction.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, that's great.

Um, so I know, you know, in learning a
little bit about you, I mean, it just

sounds like you're involved in so many
things that is for the institution.

So, and I learned some of this
and looking at your own personal

portfolios, um, but that you're
involved or were involved in a Spanish

theater group and, um, have also been.

It sounds like working in, let me see
if I made a note of what it was called.

One of the other, um, oh, the Sigma
Delta Pi, um, faculty advisor.

So, would you mind sharing
some of those things?

Because you're just so deeply
rooted and really celebrating.

Spanish culture and Spanish
language and literature.

I'd love to hear more about that too.

Yeah, so these, these posters
here are some of the plays

that we've done, um, here.

The Spanish Theater Group
has been existing with UVA.

They celebrated 40 years, uh, 2019, right?

So those are 40th 40th year to do plays.

And of course I came 11 years ago.

So I just jumped right in.

My, one of my mentors here,
Fernando Opere is the one that

started the Spanish theater play.

So I do a lot of the behind the
scenes tech stuff with that.

And then the Spanish honor
society, Sigma Delta Pi is just

a national Spanish honor society.

And, you know, it's geared to position
students to be more active, right?

To, to look for opportunities
in the community.

And, you know, some of these things can
lead to scholarships and awards and stuff.

So my job there is to kind of gently
push students towards things and

encourage them to organize on their own.

And sometimes that requires me to do a
little bit more organizing than them,

or at least get them headed that way.

And, um.

Yeah, so that's, that's been a pretty
active group and I've also been working

with the honor fraternity Sigma,
Sigma Phi Epsilon, which is, which

is, I'm a faculty fellow for them.

And 1 of the things that I hope we can
get to talk about is the professional

portfolios that I've been working on
in the Spanish classrooms and also

outside of the Spanish classrooms.

But Sigma Phi Epsilon is a, is an
honor fraternity that's been around

for, I guess, about 100 years or so.

And, and so I, because of a
student took my class and created a

professional portfolio in my class,
asked me if I would be the faculty

fellow for them, um, to help them.

To help them to, to be
able to market themselves.

And none of these are Spanish majors.

They're all like engineering, computer
science and math, uh, math majors

and accounting and very analytical
types of super responsible young men.

And so working with them on, you
know, creating professional portfolios

to expand their digital ecosystems,
providing templates and feedback has

been, it's been really rewarding to see
those, that sort of work come together.

Oh, that's wonderful.

I didn't even realize that there was a
bridge there with the, those students.

So did they initially get inspired
because they were part of one of

your Spanish language courses and
then saw that this was something that

they could really use to develop kind
of their professional persona and.

Yes.

So, yeah, their, their current
president was in my class when I piloted

the professional portfolio option.

Which is something that you, I
don't, not sure if you remember,

but a couple of years ago, well, the
University of Virginia participated

in the AAC&U Institute on ePortfolios.

And I know Digication was a big
contributor to that whole Institute.

And so my.

We all had little projects.

And so my project was to
develop a professional portfolio

template rubric guidelines.

And, um, because of that amazing
institute, I got to meet with Helen Chin

on Zoom for like one, like two hour call.

And so I got a lot of feedback from
her and ideas and just, you know,

engaging with, uh, my, my students.

Previous mentor that's retired
now, Yitna Firdyiwek, you know, he

was a real big fan of what I was
doing with professional portfolios.

And, and so then we created
a rubric and a template.

And so this, this student was in
that, that class that did the first

round of professional portfolios.

And has since continued to use
his, as you know, and Digication

on the back end, you can see when
students access their portfolios.

So, you know, there's several students
that have continued to use their

professional portfolios and get,
get scholarships and, and awards

and send them for internships and
every student that has created one

and has used it has been successful.

And I mean, I know it's not
exactly the Portfolio, but

it definitely does help set.

Someone apart from an as
equally qualified person.

If you have something that really shows
what you're all about and what you've been

learning, yeah, and the sort of thinker
you're involved, you're evolving to be.

Here's a preview of what's coming up
next in part two of my conversation with

Matthew Street, Senior Lecturer in Spanish

at the University

of

Virginia.

From an accessibility standpoint, it
makes sense from the cost aspect and also

from an equity standpoint for, um, the
coverage of different minority groups

and, and equality aspects all around.